The Start of Something New
by LittleMissChatterbox247
Summary: What will Wanda do when she's forced to endure the pain that Jared had to two years ago? How will she cope with feeling compelled to love a soul? Ian's gone and has been replaced by Dancing Stars a most reformative soul. Rated T: just in case.
1. Where's Ian?

Chapter 1

"Give me what you got, Mel!" I yelled across the game room. She laughed as she threw the ball into the "field" perimeters, only to run in after it herself. Yes, I Wanda, had challenged Melanie to a soccer game. Maybe not the smartest thing, but it felt so good to feel the old, familiar burn in my muscles that I had missed for so long. Pet's body, my body, had finally started to gain muscle as I convinced people to let me do more and more around the caves. I now had wiry cords of muscle hidden underneath my pale skin. They were nothing compared to Melanie's muscles, which I had taken for granted when I had them, but they were getting stronger each day.

I had started playing soccer with the others to try and gain as much muscle as I could, and then I found that I really liked it. I couldn't play as often as I liked, because when I played with Kyle, Jared, or Ian, I would get pummeled and run into the ground. But during weeks like this, when they were out on raids—the ones I wasn't needed for--I could play as much as I wanted, because Melanie was capable of slowing down her game.

"Are you sure, Wanda?" I giggled and nodded, already knowing what would happen. Melanie dribbled the ball until she was less than a foot away from me, within easy reach. I stuck my foot out as fast as I could to try to hook the ball and get it away from her, but it hit free air. She had swerved around me hopping around the ball and flipping it up into the air, showing off.

"Oh, just shoot the ball already!" I begged. "I'm going to look away." I turned around so I wouldn't have to watch the finale of my complete failure.

"Come on, Wanda," she called. "I'll let you block it."

"No." I clipped. "It's better if I just accept my extreme lack of skill before I embarrass myself any further."

"Come on, please?" she whined. "I'll kick really easy." I groaned in defeat.

"Fine. But go easy," I pleaded. She grinned as I took my place in front of the goal. I squinched my eyes shut and covered my face. "Okay, go." Nothing.

"Wanda, really try," Melanie encouraged. "You might get it this time." I laughed, but I uncurled.

As soon as I was standing up straight, Melanie sent the ball swirling at unbelievable speed towards my face. I screamed and dropped to the ground. The ball passed over me and smacked the wall, bouncing all the way back to her. She caught it and chuckled, "Nice try."

I stood up and dusted myself off. From the sides of the room I heard our "crowd"—Jamie, Sharon, and Maggie--howling with laughter. I began to blush, and knew everyone could see my face turning red. Melanie came over to my side and yelled at them, "Hey, shut up! I'd like to see one of you come up here and block my Destroyer!" They instantly quieted.

"Thanks," I whispered.

"No problem, you just got to scare them, that's all. Especially Jamie, he's a whimp."

"Hey!" he called. "These caves echo you know!"

Melanie and I laughed, because Jamie was the farthest thing from a whimp that there was. When our laughs had passed, Melanie put her arm around my shoulder and I put my arm around her waist. My head only came up to about her chin, if there, and so she had to look down at me when she asked, "You wanna get some food?"

"Yes, food would be good." We were almost out of the room when Jamie jumped in front of us, startling us both. He stepped forward and hugged us. I have to give him points; he didn't even cringe when he felt how sweaty we were. We hugged him back as best we could, connected as we were. I loved Jamie's hugs almost as much as I loved Ian's. He just had a way of wrapping you up completely and radiating warmth to you.

"Good game, guys."

"Thanks, Jamie." I said.

"You got creamed, Wanda."

"Thanks, Jamie." I repeated, this time with a sarcastic tint to my voice.

"You know I'm not being mean," he reminded me as he linked his arm through my free one.

"I know." I smiled at him, because he knew that I wasn't mad. I could never be mad at anyone here. I fit in like family. I had even learned sarcasm, and though I remained a generally good person, I had maintained almost nothing of the souls' way of life. Except for the reflective silver ring in my eyes, I could have passed for human.

We talked and laughed until we got to the big plaza, where we were stopped by a crowd. Sharon and Maggie, who had arrived only moments before us, looked as bewildered as I felt. Melanie extricated her arm from around her shoulders and parted the crowd. Jamie and I followed, arms still linked. When we reached the front of the crowd, Melanie whispered, "Jared," And ran up to him and hugged him. They were back from the raid. Jamie and I followed. "Hey Jared," he said, and he and Jared had a handshake/hug moment. Then Jared stepped forward to hug me, and suddenly stopped. I had outstretched my arms to receive his hug, and so now I stood there stupidly, arms in the air. I slowly lowered them. "Hi, Jared," I said, hurt and confused because I didn't know why he hadn't want to hug me. He was looking at me with an expression that had pity and pain in it.

At that moment Sunny, who had finally let Kyle go on a raid, came barreling past us and jumped into his arms. He smiled, caught her, and kissed her on the cheek. "See?" I heard him ask. "I'm safe." Then, slowly, he set down Sunny and stopped smiling. Was there something going on? Were Seekers going to come looking for Sunny and me? Were we going to get thrown out? I began silently hyperventilating as my panic heightened. Where was Ian?

Sunny was trying to get Kyle's attention, but he just ignored her. Melanie was trying to talk to Jared, but he was grim faced and oblivious. Jamie had finally noticed me freaking out, and was trying to figure out was wrong. I saw Paige and Andy, and she wasn't getting through to him at all either. Brandt had come up behind Kyle and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Where was Ian?

"Jamie, where's Ian?" I asked, out of breath.

"He's probably just putting away supplies. Let me ask Jared." He left my side, but didn't even make it halfway to Jared before Jeb's subdued voice carried over all the other noise.

"Hey! Listen up. There's something that happened while the boys were out on their raid." Oh no. I begged my heart to beat quieter. "We,uh," Jeb looked like he was trying to hold himself together, too. I looked at Kyle and saw that he was already breaking down, with tears streaming down his cheeks. "one of the boys was—"

"It was Ian," Kyle broke in. "Ian was…taken." His voice broke, and he paused to swallow a sob. By now tears had already blazed trails down my face. "They caught him trying to get extra medicines. I told him—I told him…" Sunny turned around and hugged him, and he buried his face in her hair.

"No," I whispered.

"Wanda," Melanie stepped toward me.

"No," I repeated. He's—he's here. He's just putting away supplies. He's safe."

"No, Wanda." Jared's voice was hard. "No, he's not." Pet's body failed me. There were too many emotions that I was feeling at once. It was too much for the fragile body. I fainted.


	2. Dancing Stars

Chapter 2

I opened my eyes in the hospital, with Doc's face hovering over me. I didn't remember what happened. At all. So, naturally, I asked. "What happened?"

"You, um, fainted." Doc avoided eye contact and busied himself with straightening out his healing instruments and the cans that were raided monthly from hospitals.

"Oh," I said. "Why?" I tried to sit up, but Doc gently pushed me back down.

"Don't," he said. "Wait a few more minutes." I lay back down.

"So, what happened? I mean, why did I faint?"

Doc finally looked at me. "We just found out Ian about three hours ago."

"Ian?" I was completely bewildered. "But he's on a raid…" And then I remembered the sullen faces, the distraught women, the tears, and…Ian. "And he didn't come back." I swallowed. "They caught him."

"Yes." He didn't say anything more.

"Doc?" he only looked up at me. "Where is everybody?"

"Oh. They wanted to be here for you, but they're preparing a rescue party. They're going to try and go after Ian."

"But where are they?"

"The plaza, I think."

"Um, can I get up?"

"As long as you don't fall down as soon as you get up, you should be fine." He held my hand to help me up. I thanked him, and then walked as fast as I could towards the plaza. I had to stop a couple of times because I was still light headed, but I didn't stop for long. I reached the plaza within two minutes.

Everyone was calm, surprisingly. But then again, there was only one person commanding the room, and that person was Kyle. I personally wouldn't interrupt him either, but I didn't have to. He saw me. "Wanda." Everyone's heads turned towards me. If I wanted to speak, now was the time to.

"I want to come." I saw some people shake their heads. "I can really help on this raid. You guys might have to get into a hospital or an operation room to get to him, and I can get past the security easily." Those who had been shaking their heads stopped. I took a deep breath. "If you are going to take me, I'm also going to need Sunny." I saw her head jerk up when I said her name.

"No," Kyle's voice was flat and harsh. "Sunny isn't going anywhere." He put his arms around her. I understood him completely, but…

"Kyle," I tried to penetrate his stubborn air, "no one's going to hurt us. We're still souls. We'll be in the clear, and we'll get Ian out of there."

"She's right, Kyle." Jared stepped forward until he and Kyle were right in front of each other. "Wanda's not going to be able to carry Ian out, and Ian can't be awake. Chances are he's already got a soul in him." I winced.

"No. Sunny's staying here." Kyle wasn't backing down. I had figured that was it, when suddenly Sunny backed out of his arms to stand by Jared. I could see, even from this distance, that she was shaking, and I could hear it in her voice when she spoke.

"I want to go, Kyle. I want to help." She stood up straighter and raised her chin. "I'm going. I'm going to help Wanda get Ian back. And you. You know that I can help, and I know that you want Ian back. You'll be with us the entire time. So I'm going."

"But I don't want you to get hurt." Sunny slowly stepped forward and hugged him, and he accepted defeat.

I was touched by Sunny's refusal to be squashed, and I was proud of her, too. My heart twanged as I saw her hold onto Kyle like she did. _Ian will be home soon,_ I reminded myself. _Soon. _

Another hour later, we had comprised a rescue party. There was me, Sunny, Kyle, Jared, Melanie, and Brandt. That was almost more than enough people. Jamie had begged to come, but Melanie, Jared, and I all responded with a sound, "No." So, with much grumbling, he settled for helping to prepare. Preparations took another half hour, and then finally we were ready to go. Sunny, Kyle, and Brandt rode in the sedan since it was Sunny's first raid and the engine noise wouldn't attract as much attention. Melanie, Jared, and I rode in the jeep. I was driving.

Kyle and Jared had said that they'd lost Ian in Tucson, so that was most likely where he'd be, which was good, because after all the raids I'd been on, I was semi-familiar with that hospital by now. "Okay," I said, "once we get to Tucson, we should book two hotel rooms. Sunny and I will go in, and we'll each ask for a room."

"Why?" Melanie asked.

"Just in case. It might be the wrong hospital and we may not be able to get him out tonight. It could take us a while to figure out what room he's in."

"Okay," Jared agreed. "We've got to get Sunny to pull over though, so we can tell them." We flagged down Sunny's car, told them the plan and which hotel to meet at, and then we were both on the road again. We soon passed their car, and they were far behind us.

We didn't talk much, and as soon as we were on the highway, Melanie and Jared got under a blanket in the back. In another hour we had reached Tucson and were parked in front of the designated hotel. Sunny pulled up soon after that, and, leaving the others in the cars, we walked in.

It was no problem to get two rooms right next to each other. The whole arrangement was made within five minutes; the man who was working the front desk was exceptionally nice. I almost felt bad for deceiving him. Sunny and I thanked the man, and walked out again, promising that we'd be back that night. Once back in our separate cars, we began to drive to the hospital.

It had been a few months since I had gone on a raid. People had mostly tried to keep me at home, because even after a year, they hadn't believed my body capable of keeping up with a raid, although I did just fine on the first couple after my transition. Also, Kyle had wanted me to stay behind with Sunny. Besides him, I was the one Sunny trusted most. So, even though I didn't like staying home because I always worried for Ian—I didn't let myself dwell on that thought—I stayed because it put everyone at ease.

When finally, we reached the hospital after a long silent ride, I reached into the backseat for my bag. Sunny and I had each gotten a bag before we'd left. In each of the bags there was: a container of chloroform, a rag, and a small baggie with a single white pill inside. We each also had a pill in our pockets, as did everyone on the expedition. I pulled into a parking space, silently thanking whoever would listen that the lot wasn't even half full. The hospital obviously wasn't that busy tonight.

I saw the sedan slide into the parking space next to mine, and watched as Kyle leaned forward to peck Sunny on the cheek as he handed her bag up to her. I smiled a small smile as I whispered goodbye to Jared and Melanie and heard their whispered simultaneous warning, "Be careful."

Sunny and I met each other behind the cars. "All right," I said. "Are you ready?"

She nodded confidently, and I was once again struck by her bravery.

"Okay then, let's go. You know what to do if we get caught?" She nodded again, this time a little less bravely.

"And you know how to use the chloroform?" I made sure.

"Yes, Wanda. I was instructed many times before we left." Sunny still had many stereotypical qualities of a soul, so I knew she wouldn't be irritated if I gave her one reminder.

"You know that it's not necessary, it's only if we need to knock out one follower. Otherwise use the pill."

"I know. But, I just have one question." We were almost to the door now, so I grabbed her arm and held me back.

"Hurry."

"Won't they remember us taking Ian's body when they wake up, if we use chloroform? I mean, won't they remember it all when they wake up?" I, too, had thought of this when I first started raids, but by now, I knew the generally accepted answer.

"Yes. But they will have no idea where to find us. Remember, we're very secluded." I grabbed her arm again and pulled her into the hospital with me.

"Right." She said, sounding reassured.

I walked Sunny right up to the front desk and smiled widely, innocently. I nudged Sunny, signaling her to do the same. "We're here to visit a patient."

"Great", the silver haired lady in front of the computer smiled back at us. "What room is he or she in?"

"Actually," I said, floundering, "I forgot. I'm so sorry."

"Well that's no problem, dear." She clicked on something on the monitor with her mouse, and then poised her fingers over the keypad. "Can you tell me their name?" She smiled up at us again.

I was internally very scared. I had no idea what to say. Then, very calmly, I heard Sunny say, "Please, he's in an operation right now. Forgive my friend. His name is…"

"Swirling rapids?" Sunny nodded her head vigorously. "Yes," continued the woman, "he's our only patient that's having an operation right now. It's been a very slow night." She gave us a knowing look. "Actually," she went on, "it's been even slower lately, now that we've rooted out almost all the humans." I felt Sunny stiffen beside me, but I remained calm, and laid my hand on her shoulder. She instantly loosened up. "Believe it or not, they've just captured another human. It seems that there are more hidden." My breath caught.

"Another human?" I asked, trying to make my tone sound terrified.

"Oh, yes. He's here in this hospital now. Tried to swallow a suicide pill." She put her hand over her heart. "It's just horrible. Luckily, our men were able to make him reject the pill. A soul was just transferred to him about an hour ago. One of the most revered souls, in fact. They believe that this soul will be able to betray the location of the other humans that were hidden with his body."

Sunny yelped.

"Well, what's the matter dear?" the woman asked.

Without missing a beat, Sunny replied, "It's just...so frightening. I mean, I thought all the humans were gone." And before Kyle had brought her to the caves, she probably had.

"Do you know the name of the soul? The one who was so revered."

"Oh yes of course. And I'm sure you've heard of him, too. His name is Dancing Stars. He should wake up in a while. We may even get to meet him." Sunny and I gasped. I'm sure that the lady thought that we were in awe, when really, we were fearful. Dancing Stars was the most revered soul in history, very well-known, because he completed the mission of the souls—to create harmony in tainted societies—everywhere he was sent, and he left no stone unturned. He could certainly root out any secret human society that remained.

"I'm sure you'll find the humans in no time," I gushed over the sound of my pounding heart.

"Well," the silver haired woman shrugged, "one can only hope. You may wait in one of the chairs. I'll inform you when Swirling Rapids is out of his operation. He should be done within an hour."

We thanked her as we both walked to two stiff blue chairs in the emptiest part of the room and sat down; waiting anxiously to see someone we didn't know.


	3. Room 324

Chapter 3

Around an hour later, Sunny and I had ragged nails and pounding hearts. We were waiting for the woman at the front desk to call us. As soon as we were let into the winding halls that made up most of the hospital, we could look for Ian. Well, Ian's body.

My mind kept drifting to the two cars down below in the parking lot. If someone was to find them, this whole plan would explode in our faces. I wasn't so much worried about Melanie and Jared, but with Sunny inside, Kyle might…

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the automatic door to the waiting room opened as another pair of nurses came out of the door. We sat up straighter, hoping they'd be coming for us. They motioned to everyone to sit back down, though, when they saw our excitement. Sunny and I shared a stricken, worried look before falling back into our chairs. Then, to our surprise, they walked over to the corner nearest us, by the water filter, and began talking in hushed tones. I couldn't make out any words, but I figured it wouldn't harm anyone if I happened to.

I motioned for Sunny to be quiet by putting a finger to my lips. She obediently clamped her lips together and picked up a magazine. I walked over to the water filter, and very slowly reached for a cup. My hands hit the stack, and they all tumbled to the ground. The two nurses looked at me, but otherwise paid me no attention. As I crawled around, picking up the cups, I was able to hear their conversation.

"How was the transfer?" The first nurse asked. He sounded nervous.

"Surprisingly smooth," replied the other. "I haven't inserted a soul in some time, but I think it went well."

"Well, we won't know until he wakes up."

"If he wakes up," the other nurse reminded him. My heart stopped.

"Yes…if. What room is he in? I'll go check up on him now."

"He's in room 324." He knelt down and picked up a cup that had hit his foot.

"324," the other nurse repeated. "Got it." Then he left, and as soon as I got the cup from his hand, the other nurse followed him.

I silently stacked the rest of the cups and returned them to their spot on the table next to the water filter. Then, shaking with nervousness and excitement, I walked back to my seat and sat down. There was no way to tell Sunny what I'd overheard without other people hearing me, so I just gave her a very pointed look. She looked confused, but went right back to reading her magazine.

For the next half hour, we were stuck waiting in the stiff blue chairs. My legs and butt had fallen asleep, and my thoughts were giving me a headache. How long did an operation take? _It must be morning,_ I thought. _We've been here so long._ I thought of my friends down in the cars and cringed for them. Their muscles would be screaming by now, and soon it would start to get hot. We weren't going to be out of here anytime soon. Plus, I had no idea how we were going sneak an unconscious full-grown male from a guarded hospital in broad daylight.

Finally, the lady called, "Swirling Rapids is now out of surgery." She smiled at us. "You may go up to see him. He's in room 234." Sunny and I stood together and walked to the door. As soon as we walked through the doors, Sunny said, "Wanda, we don't know how to get there." When I thought about it, she was right. I had assumed I would remember my way around from the raids I had been on. But it had been months since my last raid, and I didn't remember anything.

"You're right. Okay, wait here; I'll go get a map." She nodded. I walked up to the front desk.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "We need a map. It's our first time here. We have no idea where room 234 is." I smiled, she smiled, and then she pulled out a single piece of paper with a printed layout of the hospital on it. She pointed out room 234, and sent me on my way again, with another smile.

I walked back through the doors, and had a near heart attack when I saw Sunny talking with a doctor in a long white coat. I ran right up behind her, afraid of I don't know what. But I had no reason to be worried. Sunny was quite an actress.

"My friend and I were just wondering…where's room 324?" She smiled convincingly.

"Room 324?" he asked. Sunny nodded. "Well, that's on the third floor. Do you have a map?" I handed him the map over Sunny's shoulder, and he took it. After looking at it for a moment he pulled out a pen and turned it towards us. "Here it is. You're a long way off still." He circled the room on the map handed it back to us.

"Thank you." Sunny said, and then we were off. I didn't stop to thank Sunny—too many people—we just kept on walking through the twisted hallways until we got to an elevator. I pressed the UP button on the outside, and soon an elevator opened in front of us. Trying not to draw attention, we got in quickly and pressed the 3 button on the inside, and thankfully we were the only ones going up. Twenty seconds later the elevator beeped, letting us know that we had reached the third floor.

My heart was beating so fast and so hard that it drowned out all the other chatter and noise in the halls. The map that I held was trembling with my hand, and I was afraid I would drop it. Sunny was very calm, however, so I handed her the map. She walked in front of me, leading the way, and I tried to keep her in my sight, even through my wild eyes.

After what felt like an eternity, Sunny finally stopped in front of small hospital room. "Wanda?" she sounded worried. I tried to calm down and slow my heart. I would have to start taking this body on raids again.

"What is it, Sunny?"

"There's no one in here." She was looking through the window in the door, and moved so that I could see. I had to stand on my tiptoes to get a clear view, and I saw that she was right. There was no one on the hospital bed, or anywhere else in the room.

"If you're trying to get a glimpse at Dancing Stars, you're out of luck. He's been discharged."


	4. Randy

Chapter 4

I whirled around to see a blonde female Healer hang up her white coat on a hook in the wall across the hall.

"Dancing Stars?" I asked, as if I had no idea who she was talking about. "We were looking for Swirling Rapids. We thought he was in room 324."

"Swirling Rapids?" the Healer asked. "He's the one just out of surgery?" We both nodded. "Come with me," she motioned for us to follow her with her hand. We did. "I know what room he's in. You're on the wrong floor."

We walked in silence for a few seconds before I asked, "Did you say Dancing Stars has been discharged?"

Without looking back she said, "Yes, he has a very important mission. He's in the body of one of the last surviving human bodies. We're lucky his insertion went smoothly. None of the Healers has had to insert a soul in a long time. He's now in conference with his Seeker, and hopefully he's able to access this human's memories. You know, this case isn't too unlike one we had a couple of years ago. It was a female that time. She was also a member of a secret human society. We tried inserting a soul who had made herself quite popular with the Snow Bears." Sunny looked at me, and I tensed. The Healer didn't notice anything, and continued, "Unfortunately, that soul and her Seeker have been missing for some time. We believe that the human in that body overcame the soul—poor thing—but we don't have any idea as to what happened to the Seeker."

"Oh," I said.

"Well, with any hope, Dancing Stars will remember…everyone climb in." We all stepped onto the elevator that had just arrived. This time we were not the only ones on it, and the Healer was talking to another Healer on board. Sunny and I just stood there, awkward and scared.

We were on the elevator longer than we had been last time, because of all the people who were in the elevator before us. They all had to go to different floors. We were the second to last group to get off, and when we stepped off at the second floor, the Healer immediately started walking faster.

"I'm sorry, girls," she said, "I'm supposed to go help diagnose a patient on the fourth floor. I'm afraid I'm only going to be able to drop you off at room 234, and then I've got to go."

I sighed with relief, and said "That's okay. I think we'd prefer the privacy."

"Of course," the Healer smiled, and suddenly stopped. "Here it is: room 234." I was about to thank her when she opened the door and gestured with her hand for us to go in. I panicked, and looked at Sunny. Her eyes were very wide. We had no choice but to enter the room. Hesitantly, I led the way in, praying that Swirling Rapids was asleep. I saw that he was, and when Sunny and I were both in the room, we thanked the Healer. She smiled at us, and let the door swing closed.

Sunny went to the window in the door to tell me when the Healer was out of sight. We had to get back down to the cars, and we both knew it. The others had already been there for several hours, and our only hope of finding Ian—or his body—was to get down there and hope that we saw him walking around somewhere. "Oh no, she's stopped to talk to someone." Sunny informed me.

"Well, she can't be there that long," I reasoned. "She's got to give a diagnosis, remember?"

"Okay, it looks like they're just comparing notes or something. This should only be a minute or so."

"Do you want to switch? I can watch the door." I offered, even though I could barely see through the tiny window.

Sunny seemed to remember this, and with a sympathetic smile she said, "It's okay Wanda. I got it. Just sit down for a second. We'll be out of here within two minutes."

* * * * *

It was a lot longer than two minutes. After ten, I got tired of sitting, so I stood and walked to the side of the patient's bed. He was a strong looking young man who looked to be about 18, my real age, though everyone who knew me thought we had just celebrated my nineteenth birthday. He had short, dark hair, and straight eyebrows that cut across his forehead right above his eyes, which were closed. His lips were curved and full and perfectly outlined, neither one out of proportion. Right above the right corner of his mouth was a small brown mole, noticeable, but certainly not huge, which only added to his overall appearance. It was a reminder that he wasn't entirely perfect. Even I, who was completely in love, had to admit that he was beautiful. Without realizing it, my hand reached out to stroke his cheek. I was horrified at myself. He wasn't that handsome, and I loved Ian, not this stranger. I had to think very hard in order to pull my hand from his face, only to have it drift back once more. I was about to pull away, stand up, and retreat to the other side of the room, when suddenly I was hit by a memory…

_I had just taken leave of Cloud Spinner, after collecting my jacket of course, because once again, it was raining. Even though my hood was up, I could feel many tiny little drops of water hit my face. I was shivering, but I didn't want to wait with Cloud Spinner. I wanted to be alone when he came. I couldn't wait for him to get here, and, getting caught up in my bliss, I turned my face upward to the rain, and let my hood fall back. I turned around slowly, as I had seen in so many movies. I knew it was cliché, but there was no other way to express happiness in the rain than to be free. _

_"Oh, Pet!" I heard Cloud Spinner calling. I groaned. I loved her, but I would never be free with her. "Put up your hood before you catch a cold!" _

_"All right!" I knew I shouldn't be mad at her. It was her nature. She was the nicest soul I knew, and she was positively afraid of humans. _

_I moved to pull my hood up, but as soon as it was halfway to my head, I heard his car, and my hood was forgotten. I waited until I could see his headlights, and then I ran to the car and jumped in, wearing a smile that felt like it could pull my face apart. I leaned over the barrier in between the front seats to hug him. Randy…I remembered making his nickname. It took too long to say Swirling Rapids. I just said Randy because it seemed to fit him, and because the second word of his name began with "R". Besides, I had always loved the name Randy. _

_"Did you miss me?" Even though I was looking over his shoulder, I could tell he was smiling. I pulled out of the hug so that I could see it. I loved that smile._

_"Yes, probably too much. I think that my missing you may have been hazardous to my health." I smiled and giggled, but then I sobered up. "I'm really glad you're home." _

_"You know I didn't want to leave," he said. "I had to. They thought they had a lead."_

_"I don't care," I said. And I didn't. He was all that I cared about. I didn't care that they thought they had found humans in the desert. I didn't care what that could mean for all the souls that existed. I only cared that he was here with me again. I only cared that I could hold him and kiss him again. So I did, I leaned over the seats again and kissed his lips, long and slow. He smiled under my lips, and I couldn't contain myself any longer. I hugged him and began to cry. "I can't believe you're finally home. It's been so long." _

_"Well, I'm home now, and I'm all yours." Once again, I pulled away from him, but this time his hand followed me and held my face. His thumb wiped away the tears as they fell down my cheeks, and he whispered, "Don't cry. I'm home for good now. And we'll never be apart again." That only made me cry harder. _

_"Do you promise?" I asked. _

_"I promise." He swore, very solemnly. "Do you promise?"_

_I smiled. I doubted I would ever be able to leave him. "I promise." _

_After that, he drove the car away. We didn't need to talk much. I was content to just look at him and hold one of his hands. My memories hadn't done him justice. He was so much better than I had remembered. We drove for an hour or so without speaking, and when we finally stopped, I recognized the parking lot of my favorite beach._

_"Why are we here?" I asked. _

_"This is your favorite place to be. I remember."_

_"Yeah, but it's not sunny." Not unlike me, Randy hated the rain. _

_"I don't need sunshine," he said. He got out of the car and walked around to my door. He opened it like the perfect gentleman that he was and said, "I've got you." _

_Smiling, I stepped out of the car, but I had hardly touched the ground before Randy had swept me into his arms. He carried me down to the beach and finally set me down right before the tide. He took my hand and we walked along the shore together. We talked of so many things, and I don't even remember what they were. I just remember that I loved every minute of it. _

_All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed again. Feeling very spontaneous, I turned Randy towards me and crushed my lips against his, cutting off whatever he was saying. At first he seemed surprised, but then he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me back fiercely. He lifted me off of my feet and spun me around. I broke away from him to laugh, and before I could kiss him again, I was rendered breathless by his face. There were raindrops running down it so fast that they looked like a constant stream. He was so beautiful. My smile disappeared as I traced his features with my finger. His smile also disappeared, and he set me down. _

_"What's wrong?" he asked, actually sounding concerned. I hadn't meant to worry him._

_"I love you," I said. I had said it before, but it seemed more important to me now for some reason. "I will always love you." _

_"I love you, too, Pet." He still seemed confused, but that didn't matter. I hugged him and buried my face into his chest, loving the way I felt as his arms wrapped around me even tighter. I would never leave, he would never leave…. Everything was perfect. _

As I surfaced from the memory, I realized that I was crying. My cheeks were wet and my eyes felt swollen. I tried to use my hand to wipe my face, but it was then that I realized that another hand had trapped mine against Randy's cheek. Looking at his face I saw that it was his own hand and that his eyes were open and looking at me. They seemed about ready to overflow with tears, too. In a moment of panic, I wrenched my hand away and cradled it against my chest. I regretted that though, because then he looked hurt. He quickly retained a blank look in his eyes though.

"Pet, is that you?"


	5. Coincidence

Chapter 5

My heart melted at the familiar sound of his voice.

"Wanda, do you know him?" I couldn't look at Sunny, who was probably very confused; my eyes were glued to Randy's face.

"Wanda?" Randy asked. His voice sounded strained, as if he was in pain. I remembered that he had just gone through surgery. "Who's Wanda?"

I don't know what made me lie. Maybe it was because he was vulnerable. Maybe it was because I wanted to make it up to Pet. Maybe it was because of how much this body missed his voice, his touch. "No one," I heard Sunny gasp at my answer. "It's me, Pet. What happened to you?"

"Is it really you?" he asked. "Are you really here, or am I dreaming?"

I smiled, on the verge of tears again, "It's really me. You're not dreaming."

All of the muscles in Randy's face tensed up, and his eyes turned to stone—figuratively, of course—but the look was completely hard and cold. "Then leave. I don't want you here."

I was shocked and hurt. "But Randy, I—"

"You left," he cut me off with such ferocity that I was glad that he was unable to move. "You left for a _year_ with no reason, no warning. You promised never to leave. For all I knew, you—eesh!" he hurt himself by moving to sit up. I helped him lay back down, and he cringed away from my touch. "The point is: I didn't know what had happened. Cloud Spinner and I would wait every night in front of the fire. Then when she died, I—"

"Cloud Spinner is dead?" my voice sounded weak even to my own ears.

"You haven't been to see her yet?" His face was disgusted. "She's been dead for months."

"Randy, please, I just—"

"I don't care." Suddenly, my mind drifted back to that day on the beach when Pet had said those same words to him. They had such different meanings in such different situations. "You didn't care enough for us. Now, leave, or I'm going to call a Healer. And take your friend, too."

"Randy, I don't blame you for hating P—me, but I had to leave. I didn't have a choice. If I remember correctly, you have been known to do the same thing."

"No, it's not the same thing!" he yelled. I jumped out of my chair and towards Sunny. She came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Just get out! Both of you!"

Behind us, the door that Sunny had just been standing next to only a moment ago swung open, and a male Healer came in. He looked irritated, and after comforting Randy, came to us.

"I suggest that you ladies leave now." He walked us to the door and let us out. I didn't see any more of Randy, but I heard him talking to the Healer as we walked away.

Sunny was angry at me too. "Wanda, how could you? Now two people have clearly seen our faces. I've never been on a raid before, but I'm going to guess that that's bad! Not to mention that one of them knows your name! Also, I'm forgetting to mention the two Healers who had to direct us. And the lady at the front desk, too. That seems way too risky to me. "

I didn't answer her. It was impossible at the moment. I didn't like having Sunny angry at me, but I knew she was right. I had been stupid, because I had let Pet's feelings get in the way of our mission. Sunny maneuvered the elevator, pressing all the necessary buttons, and soon we were back in the waiting room where we had started. Sunny plowed right through the room and out the front doors, but I stopped at the front desk.

"I'm sorry," I said, "but if you remember, I came to visit Swirling Rapids." She nodded. "Do you happen to know why he was in surgery?"

"Well, didn't he tell you?" She seemed confused. I only shook my head. "Well, he was the one who caught the human; the one I told you about, the one whose body Dancing Stars now occupies. The human struck out at him with a knife. We're lucky he didn't get permanently hurt, or worse, die."

I was stunned by this huge coincidence. How had my lover and Pet's lover become so closely knit together? How had mine almost killed Pet's? And why did I feel so close to them both? I had a feeling this could only get more complicated.

"Thank you," I said, and I walked out.

I walked out the front doors and saw that Sunny had already driven away. Again, I couldn't blame her. Suddenly, I remembered my two friends in the back of the car. I ran to the door and unlocked it. I threw my bag, which I had completely forgotten about, off of my back and into the passenger seat. We hadn't needed them at all. I jumped into the driver's seat and drove. "Guys? You can come out now; just don't sit all the way up. I'm on my way to the hotel." I hoped that was where Sunny was headed. Very slowly, I saw the blanket in the rearview mirror rise to reveal two very sweaty faces.

"What took so long?" demanded Mel. "Where's Ian?"

"He'd already been discharged by the time we got there. But hold on, we've got bigger problems."

"What do you mean by bigger problems?" Jared narrowed his eyes.

"I'll explain it all at the hotel. Let's just get there first."

They both retreated under the blanket again. In another ten minutes, we had reached the hotel. I parked right next to the sedan, assuming that the other three were already in their room. I turned off the engine and said, "We have to talk to the other three, there's a lot to go over. Let's just go straight into their room, okay?" They nodded, and we all opened our doors and quickly walked to Sunny's room, Melanie and Jared keeping their heads down, exposing their pink scars. I knocked, and thankfully, she let us in. As soon as the door was shut, I started.

"Sunny, look, I'm really sorry, but we can't afford to be torn apart."

"We also can't afford to be seen. Not as much as we were, especially not now, when they're all looking for us."

"I know, Sunny, you're right, but you—"

"Wait, hold on a second," Jared broke in. "What do you mean looking for us?"

Sunny and I sighed. Then, once everyone was close enough to hear we started to explain. We explained everything that happened from the moment we walked in. They simultaneously cringed when we mentioned Dancing Stars, his discharge, and the two Healers who had to help us find our way. Then, Sunny--who had done most of the explaining up until that point—stopped when she reached the part about us waiting in Swirling Rapids' room. "And then I don't know what happened. Wanda just…I don't even know."

Everyone's attention was on me now, and I had no choice but to explain. I told them everything from the point when Pet's memory started until the time when I walked out the doors. When I had finished, everyone stared at me. There were mixed emotions: anger, fear, wonder, sympathy…and I couldn't say a word.

Finally, Kyle spoke, "Are you crazy? He knew you? Why didn't you run?" After that, there was no more "mixed emotion" stuff. Everyone was angry at me.

"Wanda, are you serious?" Mel was in disbelief.

"This isn't good." Jared said.

"I know, I know." Now I had to try and defend myself. "Nothing's going to happen, though. The one who knew my name, Swirling Rapids, hates me, remember? He doesn't ever want to see me again." Even though I said it with a smile, my insides were meshing.

"Still, it was risky," said Brandt. He seemed to be handling the situation the best out of all of them. "But I think Wanda's right. No harm done. I mean, maybe, too many people saw them, but there's nothing wrong with that, because they'll never know where to find us."

I silently thanked Brandt, and smiled at him to let him know that I was gracious, but then I remembered. "Wait, that reminds me." Everyone got tense again. "Now this has nothing to do with me or Sunny, but, I think that they may have an idea where we are."

Then there was even more tension. "In Pet's memory, which is over a year old, remember, Randy had been called away because the souls thought they found a lead to a human hideaway in the desert. I think he works for the Seekers, the ones who hunt down humans." I saw Melanie wince, and I winced, too, as we both remembered the Seekers chasing her right before I was inserted. "They may have lost the lead, because that was over a year ago, but then again, they could have been investigating it further. They were obviously prepared to capture humans, since they caught Ian. That must mean that they haven't given up on it yet."

There was silence as we all realized what that could mean for the humans in the caves, and for us.

Then Jared, always in control, said, "We've got to find Ian as soon as possible. Jeb needs to know about this." We all agreed, but Kyle reached through our determination with a hand of negativity and reason.

"Well, how do we find Ian? He's roaming around as a free soul now. Not to mention that he already may have told his Seeker everything he knows. We could already have our cover blown, and then taking Ian wouldn't do any good." It seemed to pain him to say that. Everyone agreed with it though. Then, I remembered.

"I think I know where we can find Ian." Everyone looked at me. "Sunny, you know how popular Dancing Stars is?" She nodded slowly, not sure where I was going. "Well, as soon as I was in Melanie's body, I was asked to start teaching at the school in that city. I taught history because of all my lives and accomplishments in them. I'm pretty sure that they would ask Dancing Stars to do the same. He's done much more than I have." Sunny, at least seemed to think it was a good idea. She just had one question.

"How do we find the school, though?"

Jared answered for me, "Tucson is a small city, if that. It should be no problem. The problem is that Kyle is right. Dancing Stars could have completely given us away."

I was persistent, though. I wanted—no, needed—this to work. "I think I have a plan." We spent most of the night deliberating, and then woke early to prepare for departure; as soon as we had Ian, if we got Ian, we would have to leave immediately. When our room keys were returned to the front desk and the humans were hidden under blankets in the backs of the cars, Sunny and I started to drive, after we each recited the plan to the other. The first soul to the school would have the responsibility of getting Ian--if he was there--out of it and into their car. The humans were all manned with chloroform soaked rags. This was for if Dancing Stars hadn't spilled to the Seeker, which the driver would have to find out. If he hadn't spilled, they'd knock him out and we'd take him back to the caves, but if he had, they'd take him back to the school and hightail it out of there. Hopefully, the second car would reach the hospital at some point, so everyone would know where everyone was, and there would be no confusion. We could only hope that this would work.


End file.
